Have you ever been at a party conversing with a group of people, popped out to grab a drink, and then come back to a totally different conversation?
Trying to piece together what you missed can be tough, and you might make a few blunders in the conversation moving forward.
Out of all the things that military kids and families go through during a PCS, moving schools can be one of the hardest parts. Not only do military kids have to say goodbye to friends and teachers when moving schools, they often miss out on crucial parts of the curriculum.
Whether kids are moving across the city, country or world, the curriculum at their new school will probably differ from the old. This can create major academic gaps for military children who move an average of 6 to 9 times during their school years.
For military families, it can feel a lot like they popped out of the school flow for just a second to move, and then popped back into something totally different than they remember. Repeat this process 6 to 9 times and the small education gaps created can become a bigger problem.
A teacher friend recently mentioned a perfect example of this problem. One of her students had missed instruction on fractions for a whole year due to a PCS. Since fractions had yet to be covered at the student’s original school, and his gaining school had already covered fractions, this child was left with a big hole in his knowledge.
This is not an uncommon incident. Military kids everywhere are experiencing panic when the teacher says, “You should have learned this last year.”
Although academic gaps can be common for military kids, there is no need to worry. Just like any other PCS crisis, there are things you can do to remedy the situation, and things you can do to prevent gaps from happening again.
I know how much we military spouses love lists … so I have created a nifty one just for you!
